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Vanderbilt political historian and best-selling author Eli Merritt reveals the deep political divisions that almost tore the Union apart during the American Revolution. Despite their differences, the nation’s founders united for the sake of liberty and self-preservation, forging grueling compromises to hold the nation together. Merritt’s book serves as a reminder that commitment to ethical constitutional democracy and compromise helped the founders overcome far tougher times than our own, and it resonates with our present era of political hyperpolarization and serves as a touchstone for contemporary politics.

“Eli Merritt deftly explores a revolutionary America rife with divisions and driven by a fear of civil wars on multiple fronts. Deeply researched, wide-ranging, and insightful, Disunion Among Ourselves persuades that our national Union began from, and still depends on, fending off the many demons of disunion.”—Alan Taylor, author of American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804

This forum is supported in part by the Sally Lanagan Fund and the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati.

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